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With the growing number of corona cases, concerns about the lack of intensive care beds are also growing. At present, 8000 beds are still registered as available, but there are doubts about it. The RKI reports 15,352 new infections.
Local authorities in Germany reported 15,352 new corona infections to the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) in one day. For comparison: on Tuesday a week ago, the figure was 11,409. The previous high was reached last Saturday: 19,059 new infections.
According to the RKI, a total of 560,379 people in Germany have been infected with Sars-CoV-2 since the beginning of the Corona crisis. The number of deaths related to the virus has risen by 131 to date to a total of 10,661. The RKI estimates that around 371,500 people have recovered.
“The wave is now rolling towards us”
In view of the continuing high number of new infections each day and the fact that it is no longer possible to trace the contacts of those infected, concerns about the overload of the healthcare system are growing. Especially since the effects of the restrictions that are in force since Monday will only be reflected in the figures in two or three weeks. Therefore, experts expect more Covid 19 patients in hospitals, including intensive care units. “The blockage will probably only affect the number of infections after 14 days and again 14 days later in intensive care beds,” said the director of the Intensive Care Medicine Clinic at the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE), Stefan Kluge, im Bavarian broadcasting. “That means this wave is rolling towards us now.”
Doubts about the number of beds
The number of Covid-19 cases treated in intensive care has nearly tripled in the past two weeks from 851 patients (October 19) to 2,243 patients (November 2), as DIVI data shows. Almost 8000 intensive care beds are recorded as available. However, experts doubt the information provided by the clinics. The indications and samples showed that sometimes beds are reported as free for which there are no nursing staff available, said the director of the German Interdisciplinary Association for Intensive and Emergency Medicine (DIVI), Uwe Janssens of the German Press Agency . The extent of the incorrect reports is unclear.
Since spring, hospitals have been forced to report daily to DIVI the number of usable intensive care beds. The number of beds for which there are sufficient intensive care workers available for care and treatment is expressly counted. An average of five nurses is required for an intensive care bed.
More nurses needed for intensive care units
“We have already started asking the nurses to work in the intensive care unit again and little by little we are closing areas in the normal rooms or closing the operating room because now we need the staff in the intensive care unit,” said the care specialist intensive Kluge. Situation. In Munich, for example, there are currently empty intensive care beds that cannot be filled due to a lack of nursing staff, but that was also the case before the pandemic.
At the moment, unlike the wave of infections in the spring, the clinics were still functioning normally, explained DIVI president Janssens. However, some clinics apparently reported the number of intensive care beds as if they had already been removed from normal operation. Interventions that can easily be carried out later would be postponed and more intensive care staff, for example anesthesia, would be available. “We do not have this condition at this time.”
Janssens asked Federal Health Minister Jens Spahn to reintroduce the flat fee so that the clinics could stop running regularly and free up capacity for intensive care physicians.
NRW Health Minister Karl-Josef Laumann rejected the demand: “As of today, I see no reason for a free premium, because there are still enough intensive capacities available,” said the CDU politician of the “Rheinische Post”.
“Beds don’t care about people”
The Greens called for swift countermeasures against the impending nursing staff shortage. “Nobody likes beds, least of all in an intensive care unit,” said green politician Kordula Schulz-Asche, from the dpa. It is time to ensure that the staffing situation in intensive care units does not become the “Waterloo of the fight against pandemics”. Spring efforts to create an emergency reserve should resume. The concepts of delegation are also necessary so that intensive care professionals can be supported by teams of experienced nursing professionals.
The German Foundation for Patient Protection had also expressed doubts that the clinics were actually only reporting beds that might be occupied. It is to be feared that clinics report a significant number of beds as occupancy, for which, in reality, there would be no nursing staff available.
At noon, Janssens and Spahn want to comment on how to proceed in the corona pandemic. RKI representatives and corona testing laboratories are also expected.
At the start of the partial shutdown decided by the federal and state governments on Monday, Spahn had already made it clear that it was a “national effort.” The goal is also to avoid overloading hospitals.
Staggered start of classes in the morning?
A completely different proposal as a measure to counter the growing number of corona cases comes from the transport companies: They are asking for school lessons to start in the morning hours. This would reduce the volume of traffic on buses and trains in the morning and increase health protection in local public transport, argued the president of the Association of German Transport Companies (VDV), Ingo Wortmann, in the group’s newspapers. Funke media.
Disruption to school operations would be “minimal” if lessons for younger children start around 8 am and for older children a time delay, for example, an hour later, Wortmann explained. The effect on local traffic during the morning rush hour would be “enormous” in his words: the capacity and therefore the available space in the vehicles “would immediately increase by at least 20 percent”.
The new crown restrictions in Germany that went into effect on Monday do not apply to schools and kindergartens, they can basically remain open. On the other hand, restaurants, pubs, cultural and sports facilities will remain closed until the end of November.
